Uneasy Alliance
by Jaelle
Summary: In this "sister story" to Fight or Flight, Hakuba and Conan muse over the alliance between Detectives and Thief. In the background, Heiji and Kaito give it their own special spin.


Uneasy Alliance  
  
By Jaelle  
  
A Detective Conan/Kaitou Kid Crossover fic.  
  
**  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters herein are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I had Kid steal them all for me briefly, but he gave them back once the fic was finished, dammit.  
  
**  
  
Hakuba watched with a benevolent eye as the Kaitou Kid easily avoided the grab of a policeman. "He's in fine form tonight," he said quietly to the little boy beside him. Conan Edogawa, AKA Shinichi Kudo, looked up at him wryly.  
  
"Well, since we haven't let him steal anything for weeks, I guess he's making the most of it."  
  
"He'd better be," Hakuba grumbled. "He's been moaning about being bored for ages."  
  
In fact, it had been closer to two months, slightly after the four boys - three detectives, one thief - had met together on neutral ground and compared notes on their most important ongoing cases: Kaitou Kid's hunt for the murderers of his father, Kudo and Hattori's search for the men in Black who had turned Shinichi into a child hiding in his best friend's home, and Hakuba's recent discovery of a secret organisation who were trying to hunt down both the Kid and the long-missing Shinichi Kudo. With the revelation that they were all searching for the same group, and the news of the sheer dangerousness of the mission, the decision to team up had been inevitable, although somewhat awkward. For the most part these problems had been sorted out, but they were all intelligent, strong-willed young men, and it was inevitable that they would occasionally chafe against each other. Hence outings like this one.  
  
"Kid wants to catch the Black Organisation as much as we do," Conan said calmly. "So he'll behave. But he's used to acting by himself outside the law, and suddenly having three detectives as partners is a bit much to expect him to instantly accept. He'll settle down."  
  
"_I'm_ not used to working in teams either," Hakuba asserted stubbornly. "But I've already adjusted. And you and Hattori haven't had _any_ problems with it."  
  
"That's not a fair comparison and you know it," Conan rebutted. "Heiji and I have been working together for years now, on and off. We're friends, and we're used to each other. We had a rivalry going for a while but after about the third or fourth time we saved each others lives we got over it. You and Kaito have a _much_ more acrimonious relationship, and _you_ have been working in conjunction with the police for some time now, so you _have_ worked in teams before."  
  
"So's he," Hakuba maintained. "There was that case at the mansion with the three of us. And the two of you worked together on that Eggs case."  
  
"But never _openly_," Conan insisted. "Both times he was pretending to be someone else. I think he's used to hiding things, and never trusting anyone. It's hard to live like that, to keep secrets from the ones you care about the most."  
  
Hakuba shifted awkwardly. "I suppose you'd know."  
  
Conan sighed. This alliance was hard work. Despite the mutual, if grudging, respect on all sides, there were also moments of extreme discomfort and awkwardness as they adjusted to each other's strengths and weaknesses. Kaito didn't want to be told what to do, Hakuba was prickly and uncomfortable with deception, Heiji tended to be hotheaded, and Shinichi took far too many risks in a body not able to keep up with the others.  
  
On the other hand, Kaito could make amazing leaps of intuition, Hakuba was an incredible scientist and observer, Heiji had a wonderful sense of the absurd and was a huge asset in a fight, and "Conan's" childs eye view picked up things that the bigger boys often missed.  
  
All in all, they could do worse.  
  
"Where is Heiji anyway?" Conan said suddenly. "He's supposed to be out there trying to catch 'The Kaitou Kid' after all."  
  
"There he is," Hakuba pointed. Conan peered in that direction, but couldn't spot Heiji in the crowd. "I'll take your word for it."  
  
"He's chasing after Kaito," Hakuba reported. "They're jumping all over the place like a pair of grasshoppers..."  
  
*On Speed*, Conan added in his head, smiling slightly at the image of the two more exuberant members of the team leaping around like psychotic amphibians.  
  
"Kaito's acting like a complete loon _as usual_," Hakuba muttered. "Why must he refuse to take anything seriously?"  
  
"You're not STILL annoyed that he fooled you all this time, are you?" Conan asked, eyebrow raised.  
  
"He DIDN'T fool me!" Hakuba corrected, irritated. "I KNEW it was him, he just refused to ADMIT it."  
  
Conan rolled his eyes out of sight. "Well he was unlikely to just confess in front of you, was he?"  
  
"That's not the point," Hakuba grumbled.  
  
Conan sighed and tried again. "Really Hakuba, you're going to have to try and relax a bit about Kaito and his sense of humour. The two of you have been fighting all week, and it's making things very tense. We need BOTH of you in on this, and it would really help if you could just lay off him for once."  
  
"That's easy for YOU to say," Hakuba grumbled. "He doesn't play tricks on YOU all the time."  
  
Conan sighed. "He only does it to get a reaction. You need to be more patient."  
  
"I don't understand how you can say that," Hakuba said. "With everything you've got riding on this, you should be the _most_ annoyed by his antics."  
  
"Oh, I've learned patience over the past year and a half," Conan said with a bitter smile. *And I've had Heiji sharpening his sense of humour on me for months.* "Kaito is just as serious about this as we are, he just shows it differently. And don't forget, he has just as much, if not more, reason to be here."  
  
"His father," Hakuba's sigh was lost in the roar of the crowd of police below as the Kaitou Kid demonstrated a particularly effective flip out of reach. "I know, I know. I just don't understand him. You and Hattori just seem to _accept_ it."  
  
Conan snorted. "Heiji knows a kindred spirit when he sees one. Those two are both light-hearted on the surface, but where you get into trouble is when you think that's how they really are. Then they pull the rug out from beneath you and you never even see it coming. Remind me to tell you about some of the stunts Heiji's pulled on me over the years, starting with the day he first saw through my disguise. He didn't say anything, just set the whole thing up beautifully and let me walk right into the trap. And then he blackmailed me into telling him everything I knew. It took him slightly under seven seconds."  
  
Hakuba smiled briefly. "Sounds like I should be careful around him then."  
  
"Trust me," Conan sighed. "Deciding not to underestimate either of those two nutcases may be the best choice you ever make."  
  
The crowd roared again.  
  
"What happened?" Conan craned his head higher.  
  
Hakuba blinked. "Alright, Heiji nearly got Kaito that time. Now they're yelling..."  
  
"THAT WAS PATHETIC! YOU COULDN'T CATCH A COLD!"  
  
"... Now they've gotten plugged into the speaker system..."  
  
"GET BACK HERE YOU MISERABLE THIEF! I'M GONNA LOCK YOU AWAY FOR GOOD!"  
  
"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME, COPPER!"  
  
"... Oh no..." Conan said. "You don't think...?"  
  
"They've gone and switched roles around," Hakuba groaned. "That's Kaito dressed as Hattori, and Hattori in the Kid outfit. Have they both gone INSANE?"  
  
"They probably thought it was funny," Conan said weakly. "They're probably having the time of their lives."  
  
"Oh dear," Hakuba sighed. "Now Kaito as Hattori is running, and he's just fallen down in a major pratfall... he's gotten buried beneath a bunch of policemen... he's making Hattori look like a complete idiot."  
  
"That won't go down well," Conan said. "I'm sure they were just planning a fun game."  
  
"Kaito sometimes gets too dramatic..."  
  
"I'LL GET YOU YET KID! I'LL CATCH YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I EVER DO! I SWEAR IT, OR MY NAME'S NOT HEIJI HATTORI!"  
  
"... like that," Hakuba finished. "Wonderful. Hattori's name is going to be mud after this. Looks like our thieving friend got the better of your pal."  
  
The Kaitou Kid had swung himself up onto a balcony and was regarding the pile-o-policemen with a decidedly evil gleam in his eye. Then he faked a look of indifference. Conan recognised the look at once. "Slightly under seven seconds," he said to himself in an undertone.  
  
"PERHAPS I SHOULD LET YOU CATCH ME, FOR ALAS, MY ONE TRUE LOVE DISAPPROVES OF MY LIFE OF CRIME!" He declaimed woefully.  
  
Conan and Hakuba's gaze riveted to "Heiji", who had gone chalk white and was desperately trying to get free of the policeman heap.  
  
The crowd below screamed for more.  
  
"YES, IT'S TRUE. I, THE KAITOU KID, HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE... AND WITH THE CHILD OF A POLICEMAN!"  
  
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! HE'S LYING! YOU CAN'T TRUST HIM!" The fake Heiji was screaming as the the fake Kid smirked.  
  
"BUT MY HEART CAN TAKE IT NO LONGER. MISS AOKO NAKAMORI... WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?"  
  
"SHUT UP!" The fake Heiji made a desperate launch for the Kid, who jumped, didn't quite make it to safety, and slid down the heap of policemen, avoiding their attempts to grab him.  
  
Laughing merrily, the fake Kid dodged another wild swipe from the fake Heiji, before making good his escape.  
  
As Hakuba stared at the false Heiji's horror, Conan fell to the ground, weak with laughter.  
  
The team-up of three detectives and one thief would survive this night of embarassment, and would eventually fuse into a true alliance of equals. They would stand together against the darkness, support each other, grow and learn. And eventually, each and every single member would learn not to underestimate the others. It would be a team of friends and rivals, cooperating together against a single foe.  
  
The Black Organisation didn't stand a chance. 


End file.
